Article on Atrocities in Darfur, Sudan

ARTICLE ON ATROCITIES IN DARFUR, SUDAN -- (Extensions of Remarks - March 02, 2005)

SPEECH OF
HON. CHARLES B. RANGEL
OF NEW YORK
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2, 2005

Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I would like to bring to your attention an excellent op-ed article written in today's New York Times by Nicolas D. Kristof titled "The American Witness." I ask that this article be inserted into the record. The op-ed article highlights the atrocities that are now occurring in Darfur, Sudan and the continuing level of indifference that the West has towards the people of Africa. In light of all of the rhetoric we hear from the United States regarding its strong commitment to liberate people from tyrant dictators, spread democracy around the world, and fight terrorism, I am left to wonder if these same principles do not apply to the people of Africa.

Without a doubt, genocide is occurring in Darfur, Sudan, and its government bears responsibility for the mass killings. Last summer, Congress declared the atrocities occurring in Darfur to be genocide, and the Bush Administration reached the same conclusion in September 2004. Nonetheless, the Bush Administration has done little, beyond acknowledging the crime, to engage the international community in stopping the slaughters of tens of thousands of innocent people. While there are no reliable estimates on the number of people killed as a result of the humanitarian crisis, observers estimate that 300,000 people have been killed since the beginning of the recent conflict in 2003. Meanwhile, an estimated 1.6 million people have been displaced from their homes and more than 213,000 people have been forced to seek refuge in neighboring Chad.

Last month, the United Nations released the Report of the International Commission on Inquiry on Darfur which stated that, "[g]overnment forces and militias conducted indiscriminate attacks, including killing of civilians, torture, enforced disappearances, destruction of villages, rape and other forms of sexual violence, pillaging and forced displacement throughout Darfur" and that such acts "were conducted on a widespread and systematic basis, and therefore may amount to crimes against humanity."

Now that the United Nations have substantiated what many of us have known for awhile, it is time that the West to take deliberative action to force the perpetrators of the genocide in Darfur to end the slaughter of innocent civilians. At the behest of the United States, the United Nations Security Council must pass a resolution condemning the crimes against humanity that are occurring in Darfur and impose sanctions against the Government of Sudan if they do not stop the killings. The Security Council should also act to freeze the assets of and deny entry visas to perpetrators of genocide, and extend the arms embargo to the Government of Sudan.

In addition to these actions, the Bush Administration should work with its NATO allies to provide the African Union forces with concrete assistance and peace keeping troops on the ground in Darfur. I encourage the Bush Administration to continue to provide critical logistical and equipment support to the African Union forces. Finally, I also encourage that Administration to reappoint a Special Envoy to Sudan as quickly as possible to ensure that the United States has a visible role in resolving this horrific crisis.

The plight of the people of Darfur should garner great sympathy from the Bush Administration. Now that we know Iraq had no Weapons of Mass Destruction and no connection to the 9-11 attacks, the President claims a mandate to engage in war to liberate oppressed people from tyrannical governments. Should not his so-called God-given mandate compel him to take the lead in getting our friends on the United Nation's Security Council to impose sanctions on the government of Sudan and, if necessary, institute other deliberative measures to stop the killing? After all, if the Bush Administration can send young men and women from poor communities and National Guard and reservists into Iraq to liberate its people from the tyrant forces of Saddam Hussein, then surely we can take steps to get the international community to stop the killing in Sudan and bring the perpetrators to justice.

If we can learn any lessons from history, we should commit ourselves to ensuring that we do not fail the people of Sudan in the manner in which we failed the people of Rwanda where an estimated one million people who were slaughtered in the early 1990's while the world community sat on the sidelines. Only now are Americans learning through the movie Hotel Rwanda how we as a Nation failed a people. The crisis that is occurring in Darfur presents the Bush Administration with an opportunity to resuscitate its reputation in the international community. [From the New York Times, March 2, 2005.]

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